Rand West City Local Municipality (RWCLM) is looking at options after a resident recently expressed his concern about large trucks and fuel tankers making use of residential roads, specifically North Way Road in Greenhills.
With the headline Large trucks on North Way Road: Why is this allowed? addressed to the Randfontein Herald, the resident wrote about his concern as to why large trucks are using North Way Road in Greenhills.
“There is a sign which indicates ‘5-ton max weight’ in a residential area. Nowadays and more often than ever, 30 to 50-ton trucks [transporting liquefied petroleum gas] as well as fuel tankers are driving at full speed on this road. Thousands of school kids also make use of this road daily which is dangerous,” the anonymous resident wrote.
He further questioned why authorities are not doing anything about it.
• Read the full letter here: LETTER: Large trucks on North Way Road: Why is this allowed?
RWCLM spokesperson Phillip Montshiwa has meanwhile reassured the public that the Departments of Infrastructure Development, as well as Community Safety, are drafting possibilities such as adding speed humps and the use of alternative routes. He also commented on the challenges involving large trucks.
“These large trucks are travelling from Tarlton and Magaliesburg via the Greenhills Cemetery area using the North Way Road as their only means to access Wilmar Oil and the Delmas Milling Company. Both Departments of Infrastructure Development, as well as Community Safety, will, however, look into the possibility of erecting speed humps to curb speeding on the stretch of the road. The other possibility is identifying an alternative road for these heavy trucks to use,” Montshiwa stated.
Montshiwa said on October 27, a media briefing was held to discuss priority issues and future resolutions and road rehabilitation was one of the discussions. He said the newly appointed RWCLM executive mayor William Mathafeng Matsheke elaborated on the matter of road infrastructure, saying that the municipality needs to rehabilitate the entire road network to ensure that over time the infrastructure stays stable.
He further claimed that simply patching up potholes would not maintain a standard road network.